


Moth Man is a Satyr, Not a Moth

by merdel11



Series: Halloween 2020 [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Cryptid Hunting, Cryptids, Dialogue Heavy, Gen, M/M, Mothman, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merdel11/pseuds/merdel11
Summary: Nico, Will, Lou Ellen and Cecil go cryptid hunting. Spoiler Alert! They don't catch mothman.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: Halloween 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017144
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Moth Man is a Satyr, Not a Moth

**Author's Note:**

> As Halloween is less than two weeks away, I thought it would be acceptable to post this one-shot I made a bit ago. I was going to post this when I finished it, but then I forgot, so have it now!
> 
> This is for an online writing group I'm apart of. We're currently having a three-part Halloween miniseries and it's really fun. I was too busy to finish the first prompt, but I already started it, so I decided to combine it with the second one. They were: supernatural/cryptid + cursed content (though writing cursed content is hard, so it's more along the crack side).
> 
> Expect another Halloween one-shot soon! Enjoy!

** Moth Man Is A Satyr, Not A Moth **

“Will, you can’t be serious,” Nico groaned.

Will grabbed an extra sweater from his dresser and stuffed it into his bag, no time for  neatness.  “I’m as serious as you are  when you brood. ” Nico scowled at him. “Now, go grab yourself a sweater and meet me at the dinning pavilion. We’re going to sneak some  food from the kitchens before we go.”

Will zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder in one motion. Nico hasn’t moved from where he stood in the middle of the Apollo cabin. “What did I say, Nico? Hurry up!” 

Nico raised his hands up in a pacifying gesture and quickly left the cabin.  Will quickly surveyed the cabin to see if he had missed anything, saw that he was good and stared swiftly walking across the  greens. Now off to find Lou and Cecil. 

\----------

By the time Lou and Cecil were ready to go,  the sun was  already low on the horizon. Orange hues sparkled against the water in the  bay and bounced off the cabin buildings. Most leaves on the trees around camp had already turned to  from green to warmer colours. For early October, it wasn’t such a surprise. 

Nico was already waiting at the pavilion by the time  Will and the ot her two got there , black sweater  tied around his waist and his cabin thirteen baseball cap fit snugly on his head. 

“Took you guys long enough,”  he complained. 

“Not my fault Cecil is slow,” said Lou.  She adjusted the straps on her backpack, packed full with who-knows-what-kind-of-ma gical-items.

“Me?” Cecil squawked. “You’re the one who took forever finding your  shoes ! And you call me slow? It took five minutes for me--”

“It was fifteen.”

“No, it was not!” 

“Yes, it was!”

“No, it was--”

Will turned to Nico, ignoring the bickering from behind him. “Idiots, I tell you,” Will  rolled his eyes. 

“Says the one who’s forcing me to go on a monster hunt, but, oh wait!  We’re not even hunting real monsters. We’re hunting fake  ones mortals made up to make their lives more interesting ,” Nico said. Very, very rudely, Will thought. 

Will  crossed his arms, pouting. “They are too real.” 

Nico just rolled his eyes, a light blush on his cheeks. If Will was being more observant, he would’ve seen the flush, but as unobservant as he is, especially for a doctor, he didn’t and instead contin ued with the conversation.  “Whatever makes you sleep at night.” 

Will wrapped a casual arm around Nico’s shoulder and started guiding him towards the kitchens , not checking to see if Lou or Cecil were following. “You’re rude.”

“I’m a child of Hades, I’m supposed to be rude. ”

“Children of Hades are supposed to be creepy, not rude.”

Nico waved a hand. “Same difference.”

Eventually the four of them finally made it to the woods (but not before sneaking into the kitchen to steal some snacks and mo n ster bait first, of course ) . The sun was below the horizon now, yellow light shining through the branches of the tre es. They  moved to a clearing of rocks the four deemed  acceptabl e. C orrection , Will, Lou and Ce cil deemed acceptable.  Nico didn’t see the reason they were out there in the first place. 

By the time the light was  gone and dusk  s et in, the traps were  meticulously set up around the clearing. From peanut butter bear  lures to ropes, they had it.  Tying the last knot on one of the rope  snares , Will stood up, hands on his  hips and looked at their work. With the low l ight and no flashlight, he couldn’t see much, but  Will still smiled proudly. It was beautiful. 

Will joined the other three in the center of the clearing. They were all leaning on a large rock that st ood in the center, moss coating most of the outside and crunchy leaves sp arsely fallen around it. He sat down in the grass beside Cecil with a sigh. “Now we wait.”

“And now we wait,” Cecil repeated. 

. . . 

. . . 

“How long are we  gonna be waiting?”

“Nico, it hasn’t even been ten seconds!”  Lou exclaimed.

“Well, I’m sorry that I’m bored, Lou! Cause I can totally control that!”

“Guys, if you keep on  talking, you’re going to scare off any cryptids who might be  enticed by the peanut butter!”  Will  chastised . 

“Yeah, you two, do you want to scare off moth man? Is that really what you want?”  Cecil  asked .

“Maybe I do!”  Nico exclaimed .

“That’s a lie, Nico. I know for a fact you have a major crush on moth man. Stop fibbing ,” Will countered.

“You stop fibbing Will! I don’t have a crush on moth man. If anything, you have a crush on  moth man! Big Foot too !”

Will spread his hands in a wide gesture.  “Everyone here knows perfectly well the only monster I have a crush on is  moth man! We’ve been  knew !”

Lou huffed a sigh and eyed the two of them annoyed. She slapped her hands into their faces to try and separate them. “Could you guys not flirt for five minutes? We’ve got monsters to catch! Theories to prov e!  No time for your guys’  shenanigans !” 

Nico and Will turned away, grumbling. Silence spread amongst the group, the only sounds the  creaking of the  trees and chirping of crickets. Two minutes passed like this until--

“Did you pack any chips?” Nico said. Everyone groan ed.

\----------

Eight o’clock came and went. So did nine. It was at half past ten,  after copious amounts of complaining and chips eaten , that any actio n occurred. 

It was in a lull of talking, everyone  snuggled into their own hoodies and silently watching the night before them . By this time, the group was already starting to get tired. Normal training and  monster hunting aside, the latest most of them usually stayed up to was eleven because of the camp ’ s strict  bedtime and morning routines. Just as Will’s eyes started to flutter close, his head lulling onto Cecil’s shoulder, a loud SNAP! startled him awake.

All four of them sprung to their feet, hands on weapons and ready for a fight.

“What was that?” Nico whispered -yelled . In  a swift  motion, he transformed his skull ring into  a  stygian iron sword.

Cecil placed his hand on the dagger attached to his hip.  “Do you think it’s moth man?” Cecil said hopefully.

“It’s more likely a monster , monster than moth man ,” Nico muttered. 

Will let out an offended gasp.  “You’re so closed minded, Nico!” Will whispered loudly. “It could be anything and you’re thinking a boring  Greek monster? Get some creativity!”

Lou had her hands out at the ready, prepared to mess with the mist at a moment's notice.  “As much as I like you schooling Nico, Will, I don’t think this is the time ,” Lou said back harshly. 

“I agree with Lou. Let’s--” 

“AHHHHHHHHH!!!” Cecil was unfortunately cut off by screaming.  Everyone jumped.

“That doesn’t sound like moth man,” Will said. 

“No schist, Will,” said Nico.

The screaming continued.

“Who’s there?” Lou called. Or at least attempted to. Will couldn’t tell if  whatever was caught could  hear her over their own yells.

The screaming  abruptly  stopped.  Then, a voice came from the shadows.  “Who do you think it is?” someone said in a very shrill , very sarcastic and very rhetorical  voice. A very familiar voice in fact.

“Grover?” the four of them exclaimed at the same time.

Will saw a faint wiggling in the trees above. “Yes! It’s me, Grover! Who else would it be?  Now, would you please get me down? ”

The four of them shared a look and started hesitantly walking forwards. 

“How do we know you’re not monster?” Cecil  yelled . “What if it’s a cry ptid that can change their voice to someone else to lure in their prey?” he  said , quieter,  more to the four of them than the thing itself.

“What? An impressionist?” said N ico confusedly. 

“No, you dim wit! That’s different !” Cecil said. 

“No, you dim wit! That’s different!” Nico mocked him. “It literally isn’t.” 

They were almost under the hanging trap now. Of course, the thing in it could still hear their entire conversation. Before Cecil could reply, the voice started talking again. “I’m not a monster !” they explained. “I already told you, I’m Grover.”

“And how do we know that’s true?” Will bit back.

“Get me down from here, how ‘bout?”  they said, pretty reasonably in fact. 

“Oh, ” said Will. “ Right .”

It took a bit of hassling and Cecil’s son of Hermes expertise, but the four finally were able to get the net down and  when they did, it was, in fact, Grover the satyr who was caught. 

He brushed off his shoulders as he stood, shirt dirty and hair disgruntled. “Wha t did I tell you?”

Will sighed, while Cecil just winced. “Sorry, Grover.”

There was a moment of silence before Grover spoke again. 

“ So. . .” he started. “What are you guys doing?” 

Five minutes later, Grover was sat between Cecil and Lou in front of the rock from before,  patiently waiting from something else to fall into their traps. As it turned out, Grover was hunting for moth ma n too. 

**Author's Note:**

> <3


End file.
